Sunday, October 2, 2016

Hoyer leads way as Bears beat Lions 17-14 for 1st win

Brian Hoyer led the Chicago Bears to their first win and maybe gave coach John Fox something to think about in the process.

Hoyer threw for 302 yards and two touchdowns filling in forJay Cutler, and the Chicago Bears earned their first win of the season with a 17-14 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

The Bears (1-3) got a win after starting 0-3 for the second time in as many seasons under Fox. They also stopped a six-game home losing streak as well as a six-game slide against Detroit (1-3), though things got tight near the end.

Chicago was leading 17-6 when Andre Roberts returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown. Golden Tate then caught a 2-point conversion pass from Matthew Stafford to cut it to 17-14 with 1:52 left, but the Bears recovered the onside kick.

Hoyer was on target in his second straight start with Cutler nursing a sprained right thumb. He completed 28 of 36 passes against a defense missing the injured Ezekiel Ansah and DeAndre Levy.

Fox has been noncommittal when asked if Cutler will start when he is ready to return, and he wasn't about to tip his hand after this one. Chicago visits Indianapolis next week.

"I'd like to enjoy this for at least a few hours," Fox said.

Hoyer shrugged off a similar question, saying, "It's my role to do whatever's asked of me. Today, I'm going to enjoy the victory. Whatever they say to me tomorrow, then that's what I'll prepare to do. I think that's being a professional about it."

Eddie Royal caught seven passes for 111 yards and a touchdown. Rookie Jordan Howard ran for a career-high 111 yards for Chicago.

Zach Miller caught a touchdown, and the Bears gained 408 yards in just their second home win in 10 games under Fox.

The Lions dropped their third straight, with Stafford struggling to find open receivers and a short-handed run game once again unable to get going.

Stafford was 23 of 36 for 213 yards and was intercepted twice deep in Bears territory. He got picked off byJacoby Glenn on a miscommunication with Tate near the end of the first half.

And the Lions had the ball on the Chicago 23 when Deiondre Hall picked off a pass intended for Anquan Boldinwith about four minutes remaining in the game.

Marvin Jones Jr. had 74 yards receiving after setting a career high with 205 yards against Green Bay the previous week.

"We were just not sharp at all," coach Jim Caldwell said. "There was no rhythm to it. That's my fault."

TO RECAP: The Lions settled for a 21-yard field goal by Matt Prater on the opening drive of the second half after two runs at the Chicago 1 got stopped.

Hoyer hit Royal deep down the middle for a 64-yard gain on the next drive, setting up a 6-yard touchdown catch by Miller that increased Chicago's lead to 14-6 in the third quarter.

But Chicago's Kevin White was slow to get off the ground after being tackled by Glover Quin following a short catch and eventually walked to the locker room with an ankle injury. Fox said he had no details on the severity of the injury.

QUOTABLE: Tate on the interception late in the first half with the Lions on the Chicago 22: "Just a silly mistake on my part. I'll own up to that. Just missed a signal. That cost us three points. It's tough. It's tough."

Bears right guard Kyle Long on winning: "We were 100 percent invested into this game. I don't even know who we play next."

MISSING PLAYERS: Ansah sprained his ankle two weeks ago in Detroit's loss to Tennessee and didn't return to the game. Levy has a quadriceps injury. He missed much of last season with a hip injury.

OLD FRIEND: Joique Bell had a quiet debut for Chicago, running for 6 yards on three attempts. Bell was released by the Lions in February and worked out for them last week before signing with Chicago on Tuesday.

INJURIES : Lions RB Dwayne Washington limped off in the first with a left ankle injury after he was tackled byJohn Timu on a second-quarter run. ... TE Eric Ebron aggravated his ankle injury and hurt his knee blocking on a run in the first quarter, but returned.